Old habits die hard.
On Tuesday night at Jadwin Gymnasium, the Princeton women’s basketball team used yet another fourth-quarter comeback, its sixth of the season, to hold off the Seton Hall Pirates, 80-76, for its sixth win a row.
This time, the Tigers (8-1) rallied twice to overcome deficits, including a 14-point second-quarter hole and a five-point gap in the final stanza to hand the Pirates (4-1) their first setback of the season.
The win capped a three-game sweep by Princeton of BIG EAST teams for the second straight year.
The 24th meeting between Princeton and Seton Hall was an instant classic.
The in-state rivals have met the past 11 seasons of play (excluding the 2020 COVID season) with the Tigers winning the last four contests in the series. But these two teams always seem to play nail-biters, and Tuesday night was no exception.
Despite a 12-day layoff, Seton Hall looked sharp in the early going and scored right away after controlling the tip on a layup by Jada Eads. The 2024-25 All-BIG EAST First Team guard from Orlando, Fla. registered a double-double for the Hall with 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. She also contributed five assists and two steals.
After Princeton came up empty in its first five possessions, the Pirates built an early, 6-0 lead behind back-to-back buckets by Jordana Codio.
In contrast to Seton Hall’s early efficiency, the Tigers looked sluggish, a problem that has bedeviled Carla Berube’s club in six of its nine games this season.
Princeton finally solved Seton Hall’s matchup zone defense when Fadima Tall’s pull-up jumper rolled in to get the Tigers on the board at the seven-minute mark of the first quarter.
Tall made it back into the lineup after missing the Tigers’ 71-41 rout of DePaul on Sunday with a biceps injury. But the junior forward was clearly not 100% and managed only 20 minutes of playing time, her second lowest total of the season. Still, Tall was extremely productive when she was on the court, tallying 13 points and grabbing six rebounds in limited action.
Meanwhile, the Tigers’ vaunted defense struggled to get stops. Part of the problem was the Hall’s hulking center, Mariana Valenzuela. The 6-foot-2 transfer from Florida State had her way in the paint, scoring back-to-back layups to put the visitors ahead 10-5 with six minutes to play in the first quarter.
Princeton also struggled mightily to control the defensive boards, surrendering one second chance after another after Seton Hall misses. The Tigers were strangely slow to react to missed shots, often allowing Pirates to pillage in the paint.
But Berube had an antidote: Skye Belker.
The junior guard from Los Angeles almost single-handedly kept the Tigers in contact, stroking three first quarter threes. Despite Belker’s heroics, the Tigers trailed 22-15 at the end of the first stanza.
In the second quarter, the Tigers again failed to execute on their first two possessions while Seton Hall remained hot from the field.
A banked-in triple by Cordio was followed by another bomb by Savannah Catalon and suddenly the Pirates were up by double-digits, 29-18, with 8:31 to play in the first half.
Catalon displayed three-level scoring throughout the contest, leading Seton Hall with 24 points on 8-for-15 shooting, including 3-for-7 from distance. The junior guard from Mansfield, Texas also grabbed five rebounds, dished three assists and ripped away three steals.
The Pirates extended their lead to a game high 14 points, 34-20, behind another banked-in three, this one by Catalon. It looked like it was going to be Seton Hall’s night.
But Berube’s squad has proven that it’s a resilient bunch.
Back-t0-back treys by Ashley Chea cut the deficit to 37-26, with just under five minutes to play in the half. Chea finished with 15 points and a game-high six assists.
Another Chea trey shaved the Hall’s lead to one possession, 42-39. Moments later, Chea made the highlight play of the game with a no-look, over-the-shoulder pass to Olivia Hutcherson in the post. Hutcherson laid the ball in to nearly erase Seton Hall’s lead.
The Pirates limped into the locker room with a tenuous 45-43 lead at the intermission. Nine first-half three-pointers by the Tigers had obscured an inconsistent defensive performance and put the Tigers in position to register another second-half comeback.
In the third quarter, a 6-0 Tigers run, sparked by four free throws by Tall, gave the home team its first lead of the night, 49-47, at the eight-minute mark.
But the Pirates would not sail quietly into the New Jersey night.
A 15-4 run sparked by Catalon and Eads put the Hall firmly back in charge by nine points, 62-53, with 3:27 to play in the third.
But a remarkable finish by Belker on a baseline drive accompanied by an and-one free throw signaled that another fourth-quarter rally was in the offing. When the third quarter horn sounded, the Pirates clung to a five-point lead, 65-60.
For the sixth time in nine tries this season, the Tigers entered the fourth quarter needing a comeback. And once again, Tall led the way.
The ailing forward couldn’t get a spin move in the paint to go, but on Princeton’s next possession, Madison St. Rose found Tall in alone in the corner and the 6-foot-1 forward’s moonshot swished the net to make it a two-point game, 65-63, with just under nine minutes to play.
After a Seton Hall bucket, St. Rose drove the lane and got the hoop and the harm to complete an old-fashioned three-point play. The senior co-captain from Old Bridge, N.J., nearly had a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds.
After Valenzuela missed a bunny under Princeton’s basket, a runout by Hutcherson netted a layup and Princeton had its first lead of the fourth quarter, 70-69, with just over six minutes to play.
The Tigers never looked back from there. Another corner three by Belker on an out-of-bounds play put the exclamation point on yet another Princeton comeback as the Tigers leapt to their sixth consecutive win, 82-78.
Named the MVP of the game by ESPN+, Belker explained how she was able to lead her team to another come-from-behind victory.
“We always focus and practice on taking what the defense gives us,” Belker said. “We’re all three-level scorers. I know that I worked a lot in the summer on my three-level game.”
Sporting a No. 29 ranking in the just-released NET rankings, the Tigers will return to the road with a clash on Saturday afternoon in Nashville against the Belmont Bruins of the Missouri Valley Conference in the first meeting of the two programs.
Seton Hall will open conference play at home on Thursday night against Butler.